Many Persons in Europe, having directly or by Letters, express'd
to the Writer of this, who is well acquainted with
North America, their Desire of transporting and establishing
themselves in that Country; but who appear to have
formed, thro' Ignorance, mistaken Ideas and Expectations
of what is to be obtained there; he thinks it may be useful,
and prevent inconvenient, expensive, and fruitless Removals
and Voyages of improper Persons, if he gives some
clearer and truer Notions of that part of the World, than
appear to have hitherto prevailed.

He finds it is imagined by Numbers, that the Inhabitants
of North America are rich, capable of rewarding, and dispos'd
to reward, all sorts of Ingenuity; that they are at the
same time ignorant of all the Sciences, and, consequently,
that Strangers, possessing Talents in the Belles-Lettres,
fine Arts, &c., must be highly esteemed, and so well paid,
as to become easily rich themselves; that there are also
abundance of profitable Offices to be disposed of, which
the Natives are not qualified to fill; and that, having few
Persons of Family among them, Strangers of Birth must
be greatly respected, and of course easily obtain the best
of those Offices, which will make all their Fortunes; that
the Governments too, to encourage Emigrations from Europe,
not only pay the Expence of personal Transportation,
but give Lands gratis to Strangers, with Negroes to
work for them, Utensils of Husbandry, and Stocks of Cattle.
These are all wild Imaginations; and those who go to
America with Expectations founded upon them will surely
find themselves disappointed.

The Truth is, that though there are in that Country few
People so miserable as the Poor of Europe, there are also
very few that in Europe would be called rich; it is rather a
general happy Mediocrity that prevails. There are few
great Proprietors of the Soil, and few Tenants; most People
cultivate their own Lands, or follow some Handicraft
or Merchandise; very few rich enough to live idly upon
their Rents or Incomes, or to pay the high Prices given in
Europe for Paintings, Statues, Architecture, and the other
Works of Art, that are more curious than useful. Hence
the natural Geniuses, that have arisen in America with
such Talents, have uniformly quitted that Country for Europe,
where they can be more suitably rewarded. It is true,
that Letters and Mathematical Knowledge are in Esteem
there, but they are at the same time more common than is
apprehended; there being already existing nine Colleges
or Universities, viz. four in New England, and one in each
of the Provinces of New York, New Jersey, Pensilvania,
Maryland, and Virginia, all furnish'd with learned Professors;
besides a number of smaller Academies; these educate
many of their Youth in the Languages, and those Sciences
that qualify men for the Professions of Divinity,
Law, or Physick. Strangers indeed are by no means excluded
from exercising those Professions; and the quick
Increase of Inhabitants everywhere gives them a Chance
of Employ, which they have in common with the Natives.
Of civil Offices, or Employments, there are few; no superfluous
Ones, as in Europe; and it is a Rule establish'd in
some of the States, that no Office should be so profitable
as to make it desirable. The 36th Article of the Constitution
of Pennsilvania, runs expressly in these Words; "As
every Freeman, to preserve his Independence, (if he has
not a sufficient Estate) ought to have some Profession,
Calling, Trade, or Farm, whereby he may honestly subsist,
there can be no Necessity for, nor Use in, establishing Offices
of Profit; the usual Effects of which are Dependance
and Servility, unbecoming Freemen, in the Possessors and
Expectants; Faction, Contention, Corruption, and Disorder
among the People. Wherefore, whenever an Office,
thro' Increase of Fees or otherwise, becomes so profitable,
as to occasion many to apply for it, the Profits ought to be
lessened by the Lagislature."

These Ideas prevailing more or less in all the United
States, it cannot be worth any Man's while, who has a
means of Living at home, to expatriate himself, in hopes
of obtaining a profitable civil Office in America; and, as to
military Offices, they are at an End with the War, the Armies
being disbanded. Much less is it adviseable for a Person
to go thither, who has no other Quality to recommend
him but his Birth. In Europe it has indeed its Value; but
it is a Commodity that cannot be carried to a worse Market
than that of America, where people do not inquire concerning
a Stranger, What is he? but, What can he do? If he
has any useful Art, he is welcome; and if he exercises it,
and behaves well, he will be respected by all that know
him; but a mere Man of Quality, who, on that Account,
wants to live upon the Public, by some Office or Salary,
will be despis'd and disregarded. The Husbandman is in
honor there, and even the Mechanic, because their Employments
are useful. The People have a saying, that God
Almighty is himself a Mechanic, the greatest in the Univers;
and he is respected and admired more for the Variety,
Ingenuity, and Utility of his Handyworks, than for the
Antiquity of his Family. They are pleas'd with the Observation
of a Negro, and frequently mention it, that Boccarorra
(meaning the White men) make de black man workee,
make de Horse workee, make de Ox workee, make ebery ting
workee; only de Hog. He, de hog, no workee; he eat, he drink,
he walk about, he go to sleep when he please, he libb like a
Gentleman. According to these Opinions of the Americans,
one of them would think himself more oblig'd to a Genealogist,
who could prove for him that his Ancestors and
Relations for ten Generations had been Ploughmen,
Smiths, Carpenters, Turners, Weavers, Tanners, or even
Shoemakers, and consequently that they were useful
Members of Society; than if he could only prove that they
were Gentlemen, doing nothing of Value, but living idly
on the Labour of others, mere fruges consumere nati,1
and
otherwise good for nothing, till by their Death their Estates,
like the Carcass of the Negro's Gentleman-Hog, come to
be cut up.

With regard to Encouragements for Strangers from
Government, they are really only what are derived from
good Laws and Liberty. Strangers are welcome, because
there is room enough for them all, and therefore the old
Inhabitants are not jealous of them; the Laws protect them
sufficiently, so that they have no need of the Patronage of
Great Men; and every one will enjoy securely the Profits
of his Industry. But, if he does not bring a Fortune with
him, he must work and be industrious to live. One or two
Years' residence gives him all the Rights of a Citizen; but
the government does not at present, whatever it may have
done in former times, hire People to become Settlers, by
Paying their Passages, giving Land, Negroes, Utensils,
Stock, or any other kind of Emolument whatsoever. In
short, America is the Land of Labour, and by no means
what the English call Lubberland, and the French Pays de
Cocagne, where the streets are said to be pav'd with half-peck
Loaves, the Houses til'd with Pancakes, and where
the Fowls fly about ready roasted, crying, Come eat me!

Who then are the kind of Persons to whom an Emigration
to America may be advantageous? And what are the
Advantages they may reasonably expect?

Land being cheap in that Country, from the vast Forests
still void of Inhabitants, and not likely to be occupied in
an Age to come, insomuch that the Propriety of an
hundred Acres of fertile Soil full of Wood may be obtained
near the Frontiers, in many Places, for Eight or Ten
Guineas, hearty young Labouring Men, who understand
the Husbandry of Corn and Cattle, which is nearly the
same in that Country as in Europe, may easily establish
themselves there. A little Money sav'd of the good Wages
they receive there, while they work for others, enables
them to buy the Land and begin their Plantation, in which
they are assisted by the Good-Will of their Neighbours,
and some Credit. Multitudes of poor People from England,
Ireland, Scotland, and Germany, have by this means
in a few years become wealthy Farmers, who, in their own
Countries, where all the Lands are fully occupied, and the
Wages of Labour low, could never have emerged from the
poor Condition wherein they were born.

From the salubrity of the Air, the healthiness of the Climate,
the plenty of good Provisions, and the Encouragement
to early Marriages by the certainty of Subsistence in
cultivating the Earth, the Increase of Inhabitants by natural
Generation is very rapid in America, and becomes still
more so by the Accession of Strangers; hence there is a
continual Demand for more Artisans of all the necessary
and useful kinds, to supply those Cultivators of the Earth
with Houses, and with Furniture and Utensils of the grosser
sorts, which cannot so well be brought from Europe.
Tolerably good Workmen in any of those mechanic Arts
are sure to find Employ, and to be well paid for their
Work, there being no Restraints preventing Strangers
from exercising any Art they understand, nor any Permission
necessary. If they are poor, they begin first as Servants
or Journeymen; and if they are sober, industrious,
and frugal, they soon become Masters, establish themselves
in Business, marry, raise Families, and become respectable
Citizens.

Also, Persons of moderate Fortunes and Capitals, who,
having a Number of Children to provide for, are desirous
of bringing them up to Industry, and to secure Estates for
their Posterity, have Opportunities of doing it in America,
which Europe does not afford. There they may be taught
and practise profitable mechanic Arts, without incurring
Disgrace on that Account, but on the contrary acquiring
Respect by such Abilities. There small Capitals laid out in
Lands, which daily become more valuable by the Increase
of People, afford a solid Prospect of ample Fortunes
thereafter for those Children. The Writer of this has
known several Instances of large Tracts of Land, bought,
on what was then the Frontier of Pensilvania, for Ten
Pounds per hundred Acres, which after 20 years, when
the Settlements had been extended far beyond them, sold
readily, without any Improvement made upon them, for
three Pounds per Acre. The Acre in America is the same
with the English Acre, or the Acre of Normandy.

Those, who desire to understand the State of Government
in America, would do well to read the Constitutions
of the several States, and the Articles of Confederation
that bind the whole together for general Purposes, under
the Direction of one Assembly, called the Congress. These
Constitutions have been printed, by order of Congress, in
America; two Editions of them have also been printed in
London; and a good Translation of them into French has
lately been published at Paris.

Several of the Princes of Europe having of late years,
from an Opinion of Advantage to arise by producing all
Commodities and Manufactures within their own Dominions,
so as to diminish or render useless their Importations,
have endeavoured to entice Workmen from other
Countries by high Salaries, Privileges, &c. Many Persons,
pretending to be skilled in various great Manufactures,
imagining that America must be in Want of them, and that
the Congress would probably be dispos'd to imitate the
Princes above mentioned, have proposed to go over, on
Condition of having their Passages paid, Lands given, Salaries
appointed, exclusive Privileges for Terms of years,
&c. Such Persons, on reading the Articles of Confederation,
will find, that the Congress have no Power committed
to them, or Money put into their Hands, for such purposes;
and that if any such Encouragement is given, it
must be by the Government of some separate State. This,
however, has rarely been done in America; and, when it
has been done, it has rarely succeeded, so as to establish a
Manufacture, which the Country was not yet so ripe for as
to encourage private Persons to set it up; Labour being
generally too dear there, and Hands difficult to be kept
together, every one desiring to be a Master, and the
Cheapness of Lands inclining many to leave Trades for
Agriculture. Some indeed have met with Success, and are
carried on to Advantage; but they are generally such as
require only a few Hands, or wherein great Part of the
Work is performed by Machines. Things that are bulky,
and of so small Value as not well to bear the Expence of
Freight, may often be made cheaper in the Country than
they can be imported; and the Manufacture of such
Things will be profitable wherever there is a sufficient Demand.
The Farmers in America produce indeed a good
deal of Wool and Flax; and none is exported, it is all
work'd up; but it is in the Way of domestic Manufacture,
for the Use of the Family. The buying up Quantities of
Wool and Flax, with the Design to employ Spinners,
Weavers, &c., and form great Establishments, producing
Quantities of Linen and Woollen Goods for Sale, has been
several times attempted in different Provinces; but those
Projects have generally failed, goods of equal Value being
imported cheaper. And when the Governments have been
solicited to support such Schemes by Encouragements, in
Money, or by imposing Duties on Importation of such
Goods, it has been generally refused, on this Principle,
that, if the Country is ripe for the Manufacture, it may be
carried on by private Persons to Advantage; and if not, it
is a Folly to think of forcing Nature. Great Establishments
of Manufacture require great Numbers of Poor to do the
Work for small Wages; these Poor are to be found in Europe,
but will not be found in America, till the Lands are
all taken up and cultivated, and the Excess of People, who
cannot get Land, want Employment. The Manufacture of
Silk, they say, is natural in France, as that of Cloth in England,
because each Country produces in Plenty the first
Material; but if England will have a Manufacture of Silk as
well as that of Cloth, and France one of Cloth as well as
that of Silk, these unnatural Operations must be supported
by mutual Prohibitions, or high Duties on the Importation
of each other's Goods; by which means the
Workmen are enabled to tax the home Consumer by
greater Prices, while the higher Wages they receive makes
them neither happier nor richer, since they only drink
more and work less. Therefore the Governments in America
do nothing to encourage such Projects. The People, by
this Means, are not impos'd on, either by the Merchant or
Mechanic. If the Merchant demands too much Profit on
imported Shoes, they buy of the Shoemaker; and if he asks
too high a Price, they take them of the Merchant; thus the
two Professions are checks on each other. The Shoemaker,
however, has, on the whole, a considerable Profit upon his
Labour in America, beyond what he had in Europe, as he
can add to his Price a Sum nearly equal to all the Expences
of Freight and Commission, Risque or Insurance, &c., necessarily
charged by the Merchant. And the Case is the
same with the Workmen in every other Mechanic Art.
Hence it is, that Artisans generally live better and more
easily in America than in Europe; and such as are good
Oeconomists make a comfortable Provision for Age, and
for their Children. Such may, therefore, remove with Advantage
to America.

In the long-settled Countries of Europe, all Arts,
Trades, Professions, Farms, &c., are so full, that it is difficult
for a poor Man, who has Children, to place them
where they may gain, or learn to gain, a decent Livelihood.
The Artisans, who fear creating future Rivals in Business,
refuse to take Apprentices, but upon Conditions of
Money, Maintenance, or the like, which the Parents are
unable to comply with. Hence the Youth are dragg'd up
in Ignorance of every gainful Art, and oblig'd to become
Soldiers, or Servants, or Thieves, for a Subsistence. In
America, the rapid Increase of Inhabitants takes away that
Fear of Rivalship, and Artisans willingly receive Apprentices
from the hope of Profit by their Labour, during the
Remainder of the Time stipulated, after they shall be instructed.
Hence it is easy for poor Families to get their
Children instructed; for the Artisans are so desirous of
Apprentices, that many of them will even give Money to
the Parents, to have Boys from Ten to Fifteen Years of
Age bound Apprentices to them till the Age of Twenty-one;
and many poor Parents have, by that means, on their
Arrival in the Country, raised Money enough to buy Land
sufficient to establish themselves, and to subsist the rest of
their Family by Agriculture. These Contracts for Apprentices
are made before a Magistrate, who regulates the
Agreement according to Reason and Justice, and, having
in view the Formation of a future useful Citizen, obliges
the Master to engage by a written Indenture, not only that,
during the time of Service stipulated, the Apprentice shall
be duly provided with Meat, Drink, Apparel, washing, and
Lodging, and, at its Expiration, with a compleat new Suit
of Cloaths, but also that he shall be taught to read, write,
and cast Accompts; and that he shall be well instructed in
the Art or Profession of his Master, or some other, by
which he may afterwards gain a Livelihood, and be able in
his turn to raise a Family. A Copy of this Indenture is
given to the Apprentice or his Friends, and the Magistrate
keeps a Record of it, to which recourse may be had, in case
of Failure by the Master in any Point of Performance. This
desire among the Masters, to have more Hands employ'd
in working for them, induces them to pay the Passages of
young Persons, of both Sexes, who, on their Arrival, agree
to serve them one, two, three, or four Years; those, who
have already learnt a Trade, agreeing for a shorter Term,
in proportion to their Skill, and the consequent immediate
Value of their Service; and those, who have none, agreeing
for a longer Term, in consideration of being taught an
Art their Poverty would not permit them to acquire in
their own Country.

The almost general Mediocrity of Fortune that prevails
in America obliging its People to follow some Business for
subsistence, those Vices, that arise usually from Idleness,
are in a great measure prevented. Industry and constant
Employment are great preservatives of the Morals and
Virtue of a Nation. Hence bad Examples to Youth are
more rare in America, which must be a comfortable Consideration
to Parents. To this may be truly added, that serious
Religion, under its various Denominations, is not
only tolerated, but respected and practised. Atheism is unknown
there; Infidelity rare and secret; so that persons
may live to a great Age in that Country, without having
their Piety shocked by meeting with either an Atheist or
an Infidel. And the Divine Being seems to have manifested
his Approbation of the mutual Forbearance and Kindness
with which the different Sects treat each other, by the remarkable
Prosperity with which He has been pleased to
favour the whole Country.